A Simple Twist
by Wallscroll
Summary: How much can change with just one, small, twist...?
1. "A World Crumbling"

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Note on December 1,2000:

This is my epic, my first series. This was originally started and posted on

the JQML about a year and a half ago, with parts (up to five) coming out

intermittently since then. It seems to have gotten a pretty good response, so

I've posted it on Fanfiction.net as a means of getting it to people who might 

not have gotten it before. I hope you enjoy!

This is just the prologue, so it's a bit of a shortie.

***

Okay, my first released fic. I don't know if this is any good, but it's a

"past" fic, and I tried to piece together the details of Rachel's death for

it. I used some JGQ, some what I believe for no good reason, and some of

what I picked up from discussions. Also, I visited www.classicjq.com for the

express purpose of this story, and ended up spending an hour there, just

perusing the info. Great site. If anything gets horribly twisted up,

however, it's my fault.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Quests, the series, and I barely own the story

(Comico and JGQ seems to have written most of it) I just added my own twists

to it. If you sue me, um, what do you expect to get?

A Simple Twist, Prologue

"A World Crumbling..."

"OhmygodohmygodohmygodohmyGOD!!" Benton Quest said frantically as he raced

into the emergency room.

"Quest! What room are the Quests in!" he shouted worriedly. He was growing

more agitated by the second.

"Room 206!" a nurse said, pointing, too stunned by the sudden entrance to

argue. Dr. Quest ran in the direction indicated and tore into the room. He

stopped suddenly as he saw the figure lying in the bed, another figure

kneeling motionless beside it. He gathered up the kneeling figure in his

arms, and they cried together. When there were no tears left to shed, they

held each other, the final surviving members of what was previously a

perfect, happy life.

Later, he sat in the hall outside the room in shock. He thought "My wife, my

son, God, what'll happen now? What happened?" The police told him they were

assaulted, but the assailant got away before anyone got a good look at him.

It didn't matter. The damage was done in the scant seconds in which the

attack took place. His small, young family was decimated.

"Dr. Quest?" a doctor asked "We're sorry, but there's too much damage, and

its too widespread. If they got here sooner..." he let the sentence trail

off. "There's nothing we can do but ease the patient from life. You'd better

come in now, it should happen soon." The doctor shook his head. He hated

this job sometimes...

Fighting back tears, he slowly entered the room, knowing what would have to

happen when he did. When he heard a soft cry from the bed, he lost all

hesitance and rushed to the bedside.

Two eyes, bluer than the sky outside their window on that perversely sunny

day, gazed at him, a slight smile curving the small mouth. That smile was

replaced by a grimace as pain wracked the dainty body. Rachel embraced him,

as the monitor flat lined.

They then got up together, quietly weeping as they walked out of the room

where their son lay motionless.

At the tender age of six, at 5:32 PM. Jonathan Benton Quest died from wounds

inflicted by an unknown assailant. His mother, Rachel Wildey Quest, another

target of the attack, was unharmed.

The End (the beginning?)

Okay. There it is. pause hmm... it's not half bad, actually. Not half

good, either, but oh well. How many of you knew that those last two lines

were coming a mile away? I remember a line from MST3K a few weeks back

"C'mon! Dead people know what's happening!" when the movie was trying to be

all mysterious and surprising. Well, I'm always critical about my own work,

so if you like it, more power to you. It's just that self-deprecating humor

of mine kicking in.


	2. "Ripples"

Disclaimer: Don't own any of them, but technically, the people who _do_

don't use 'em, so why can't I? Anyway, don't sue.

A Simple Twist: Chapter One.

"Ripples"

The funeral was meant to be small. Just some of the immediate family, and

some close friends to pay there respects. That was how it was _planned_...

Things didn't exactly turn out that way.

The story of Jonathan Quest became the new "Lindbergh Baby" of the decade.

Despite vehement protests by the family, the media coverage surrounding the

funeral had everyone remotely connected to the Quests attending. The country

was fascinated by the story of the bright, young, and successful young

doctor and his equally bright, young, and successful wife. The Quests tried

to turn away the attention, but they were too exhausted from grieving. They

just tuned out the commotion. Rachel's father, Doug, tried to control the

mob in their stead. He was not doing that well.

Some guests were welcome, like Alena Stasny, one of Benton and Rachel's

dearest school chums, now an up and coming senator in the Czech Republic.

Alice Starseer, a former student and confidant of Benton's also showed up.

In other circumstances, Rachel might have minded the presence of the young

Native American woman (and even Alena's, to a point), but there, at that

time, nothing mattered but paying proper respect to her son. Even Phil

Corven, Dr. Quest's liaison with the government, was welcomed as a familiar

face.

Other guests were not as welcome. Nor as familiar.

"May I help you?" Doug Wildey said, with a suspicious look. He was getting

tired of crashers. Some people that were _not_ on the list and had never

even _met_ his daughter or son-in-law before kept trying to sneak in. They

kept chanting that they were "bad" or something and wanted to console

Benton. This was a child's funeral, for God's sake!

"Yes, I'm an old acquaintance of Dr. Quest...Benton. We went to college

together. Just call me ...Joseph." I believe my name is on the list?

Doug checked the printout that had just spooled out of the dot-matrix

printer connected to the computer Benton and Rachel had set up to lighten

there work load. They weren't up to doing this by hand. 'All this newfangled

technology' Doug thought to himself. 'Even overheard that that thing is

connected to a phone line, or some such nonsense...' "Let's see, what was

your name?" Joseph told him. Doug scanned to the very end of the list and

found it. "Ah, okay. Go right in, Joseph."

"Thank you." Joseph went in. He avoided the cameras and the hosts, keeping a

very low profile, just absorbing whatever he saw.

Looking at Benton Quest's expression as the funeral closed, the pretense of

"Joseph" fell away, if just for an instant. And in that instant, plain for

all to see (if anyone had noticed), Dr. Zin was a very happy man.

*****

The door to the plush office opened as a slim, baby-faced man entered.

"Ah, Corven. Good to see you. What can I do for you?"

"General, it's about the Quests. Are you familiar with them?"

"Yes. Good man, if a bit naive. Very useful to us."

"Well, their son was killed, in an attack. Intelligence believes it was a

planned attack to get at the doctor." Corven said, a bit tentatively.

"What! Corven, Benton Quest is an asset to this country! We can't lose him

at this critical juncture in our operations! Any further attack, or

kidnapping, of his family can have severely adverse effects on our tech

development. What are you planning to do?"

"I've decided to assign the Quests a body guard, pending your approval. I've

searched through personnel files for the top field agents qualified for the

job, and here are some candidates. Here's my first choice. Roger Bannon."

"hmm. Bannon, huh? What are these things under "Special Non-Combatant

Skills"?

"He's been schooled as a tutor, sir. Officially it is for the purpose of

schooling any underage, high-risk, charges. Unofficially it was something to

keep him busy because he finished the courses so quickly." Corven gave a wan

smile.

"Do you really think that two of the most brilliant people in the United

States will need a tutor? Bannon can be better used elsewhere. What's your

second choice?"

"Here, sir. Right now he's prepping for a mission. He is planned for a much

bigger role in the operation, but I have put this at top priority due to the

long range implications of this assignment. In fact, Bannon is one also

involved in the mission."

"His file seems in order. He'll be perfect. Pull him off the front lines

immediately. Oh, and try to console him. He'll see this as babysitting. Just

tell him it'll give him more chance to see his wife and kid."

"Very good sir. By the way, this has been classified as an official

assignment by the high brass. File 037."

"Fine. Just get things done."

"Yes sir." Corven left to give the assignment to one of the most

trustworthy agents in I-1, right up with Bannon in that respect. 

He left to find Ezekiel Rage.

TO BE CONTINUED...

hmm. I'm not sure about this chapter. (Of course, I say that about all my

work) I think it packed in sufficient twists. The prose seems a little

awkward, however.

Let's see, I (sorta) introduced Race, I introduced Alena Stasny, Alice

Starseer, Phil Corven (and the big one) Dr. Zin! I also fit Rage in (in

pre-insanity state)

As always, C&C is appreciated, flames are not, and money is humbly accepted.

(But not _too_ much. I don't want to get sued)


	3. "Mental Health and Oblivious Living"

__

Quick author's notes. Things in double quotes (") are spoken. Things in

single quotes (') are thoughts. Some of the character's may seem

out-of-character, but what do you expect, It's an alternate universe. You'll

see their old selves surfacing in due time. Most of them, at least.

Disclaimer: I don't own anyone. It's too messy, in legal terms.

A Simple Twist, Part 2

Mental Health and Oblivious Living

Ezekiel Rage sat quietly mulling over his coffee in the cozy house he shared

with his wife and daughter on the Quest's Massachusetts property.

He was thinking about _them_ again.

His wife, Abby, noticed. "Is it still so bad, Zeke? It's been eight years."

"Outwardly, they're fine, Abby, but it's the small things..."

"My husband, the psychotherapist spy bodyguard. Emphasis on "psycho". Zeke

smiled. Abby took the news of his job much better than he would have

thought. Especially when he mentioned that the job was getting them a cushy

residences in both a beautiful part of Massachusetts and an equally

beautiful island in Florida, not to mention friendship with two big

celebrities. That smile faded, however, as his thoughts wandered back to his

friend, his _best_ friend, Benton Quest.

"It's in his routine now, Abby. Right after ...Jonny died," Zeke hesitated,

trying to remember the name of the long dead child, "he walled himself off

from everyone, even Rachel, and started working nonstop. Even if he has

gotten over it, which I doubt, he's gotten so used to doing this that he

does it on autopilot. He's opening up, but he's still pushing himself much

too hard... It's not healthy. He gets about four hours of sleep a night and

works another eighteen! His only non-work thing he does is play with Karla

for a little while and maybe some conversation with me. Now, I know we have

great discussions, but I don't think it's enough to preclude anything else

fun!" Zeke gave a wan smile. "Hopefully now that the Questworld project is

over, the development can be handed over to the other techs at Quest

Enterprises, and he can slow down."

Abby sighed. They had this discussion almost weekly, but she had to admit he

was right. "Hopefully. Rachel needs him. It's helping her, not to mention

me, to just have girl talk again, but they need each other! They're great

with Karla, but there's this ...look they get in their eyes. Its like they

bottled up their emotions, and hid it from each other." She sipped her

coffee. "They need to talk about this."

They sat in silence, thinking of the people that have become almost family

to them. "I tried to get I-1 to get a therapist to talk to them, but because

this routine is getting them technological results much faster then any of

their projections, they _want_ to keep him like this."

Suddenly, the security alarm blazed. "Damn..." Zeke swore under his breath.

He grabbed one of the non-lethal incapacitators out of a sliding panel on

the wall. "Abby, go to Karla. Make sure she's okay." He ran out into the

night and stopped short, his jaw dropping. He thought he saw a spider.

A _big_ spider.

Upon closer inspection, he discerned it was a black ball with very thin,

spindly legs. Not altogether intimidating, if you could discount its size.

That size was a little hard to ignore, however.

author's MST: He got _closer_ to that thing? Voluntarily?

It was approaching the mansion rapidly, already having ripped out the

security fence. Zeke raised his weapon ineffectually, when suddenly light

blazed from the top of the lighthouse not far from the mansion. A large beam

hit the spider, enveloping it, and lifted it over the edge of the peak,

subsequently imploding it. The torn remains fell to the rocks below.

Zeke was surprised, to say the least.

He ran to the lighthouse, sputtering. "Doc! What just happened there?!"

"Hm? Oh hey, Zeke. What's up?" Benton said, absent-mindedly.

"Didn't you see the large, intimidating, THING out there!? Didn't you notice

the alarm! Didn't you notice the annoying, flashing red emergency lights

that are going on as we speak!?"

"Huh? Oh, actually I didn't. Iris," he said, speaking to the air, "Emergency

over?"

"Yes, Dr. Quest." A feminine voice said, in a surprisingly rich voice.

"Then turn off that racket" he said, bending back over his work.

Zeke stood there silently for a few minutes, incredulous.

"Uh, Ben? That beam back there. That new?"

"Huh? Oh yes. Now that I've finalized the software/hardware bundle for the

Questworld commercial package, I didn't have anything to do, so I made

practical some of the theories about remote matter kinetization. Simple

tractor beam hooked up to the security sensors and tactical computers. That

programming for that is brilliant, by the way."

"Thanks. And Iris, she sounds different, and strangely familiar..."

"Oh, I hope you don't mind. During lunch I cooked up a wave-pattern

algorithm for the synthesis of age from simple voice recordings. I used

Karla's voice, okay? That's how she'll sound when she's about twenty. Pretty

useless, but I didn't have anything to do."

Zeke shook himself out of the stunned, open-mouthed silence he found himself

in. "No, that's okay. Uh, you might want to think about that attack. Someone

did attack, with some pretty impressive technology. Don't you want to know

why? Or what they wanted?"

"Oh, just file a report with I-1. They'll look into it. And we're safe here

anyway, if they come back. This is one of the most secure residences on the

planet, mostly because of you." Benton smiled at his friend.

"Well, I wish we could have gotten some samples from that thing. It might

have helped the investigation if you didn't destroy the weapon" Zeke said

disapprovingly. He quickly relented though. "Well, you say you don't have

anything to do? That's great! Why don't we all go out tomorrow. Play some

tennis, do something _out of routine_." Zeke emphasized the last three

words.

Benton's eyes clouded. He looked genuinely scared of the prospect. "I don't

know..."

Zeke continued. "...It'll be good for all of us to get out of this cramped

compound, so let's do it, okay?" He put a steely glint in his eye. 'I

sympathize, I really do. God knows what I would do if Karla died, but I'm

going to get him to do this if it kills me. It's for his own good.' he

thought.

Benton saw that glint. "All right... but–"

"Benton," Zeke warned, "don't make me bring Karla and her puppy-dog look out

here..." The eminent scientist shut his mouth slowly. He then smiled

brightly.

"Don't _you_ work for _me_?" he questioned.

"Nope. That's just something we made up to make you feel more important.

Iris, activate program-code AG" Zeke smiled as he said the words.

"Activated." Another feminine voice intoned. "New Artificial Intelligence

Persona loaded."

"Suze?" he asked the new AI. "Lock down archives. No access allowed,

priority code 'All work, no play."

"Archives locked. The access privileges of subject: Benton Quest and

subject: Rachel Quest are now suspended."

"Oh, and don't let Meach get control of the system," Zeke said, referring to

another AI in the Quest's computer system. "She's liable to override the

last command for Benton." 'I swear she's got a crush on him...' Zeke

thought. "Thanks, Suze."

"You're welcome, Zeke." Suze said.

'Was that suppressed laughter in her voice? No, it couldn't be' Benton

thought.

Zeke broke into his thoughts. "Go to bed, Ben." Not that Zeke really

believed Benton would, but he would make up for it tomorrow.

He'd make sure of it.

***

The Southern Californian weather was typically beautiful. Jessica Bannon

breathed in the cool breeze as she ran through the park. If it weren't for

the winds, the day would've been unbearable. As it was, it seemed a whole

lot more comfortable (and a lot less humid) then Jessie's childhood home of

Columbia.

Jessie had moved to the States when she was about seven, and loved it. It

wasn't only the weather that made her feel this way. It was her parents. For

a little while their relationship was touch and go, because her mother

didn't like her father's job, and it's unusual hours. Everything was better,

however, when Race Bannon was officially "retired" from service because of a

record number of successful missions. That, and the fact that the upper

brass didn't want to deal with his just-below-insubordination attitude. They

couldn't very well fire him without an uproar from a lot of other agents, so

they got rid of him, with a generous severance package and pension.

This was far from Jessie's thoughts, however. She was running home, eager to

see if her dad had remembered his promise...

She ran through the suburban neighborhood to a cozy, two story house of

slightly Spanish architecture. She ran through the yard to the kitchen,

squealing with unsuccessfully restrained excitement. "Hi Mom!" She said

quickly, absently kissing her mother on the cheek. "Where's Dad?"

Estella Velasquez smiled at her daughter's excitement. "He's in the living

room. He was trying to put something together, or something. He was looking

for the hammer earlier..."

"What?! If he...no, he couldn't! Ooooooooh! DAD!" Estella chuckled as Jessie

tore out of the room. She became downright hysterical when she heard a

frightened yelp come from the next room, in Race's voice.

Race held up his hands in surrender. "Jessie, Ponchita, calm down. I didn't

do anything..." He glared at his wife, who had just entered the room, still

laughing softly. "Here you go." He handed his daughter a pristine,

shrink-wrap intact box with a stylized "Q" on it.

"Ohhh, Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!!" Jessie ran up to her room,

clutching the state-of-the-art Questworld Consumer System (Green edition.)

"Teenagers..." Race grumbled, with a smile.

Jessie had been following the technology ever since the news first hit the

Internet, and had waited for this moment for five months. Her friend Kris

had been a beta tester, and even with barely any content, the system was

awesome. Jessie, however, was the first one in the county to get a final

system, complete with a Questnet satellite connection.

"Life is good." Jessie thought. She quickly but gently took out the earpiece

visor, followed by a smooth, palm sized case that contained the custom

processor, a disk drive, and a whopping gigabyte of QuestTech brand RAM. The

whole system was voice operated, and there was a tiny and invisible

microphone built into the earpiece. Impressive system, yet with Quest

Enterprises revolutionary manufacturing and design techniques, the whole

thing was relatively inexpensive. Not bad for a complete VR system that

could do anything from games to three dimensional scientific simulations. It

could even do word processing, either with a virtual keyboard or pen, or

pure dictation. Ostensibly, this system was to help Jessie with her

homework.

Right.

Jessie busily started setting up the system, oblivious to the heavy make out

session that started downstairs as soon as she left the room.

author's note: I regretted that last part as soon as I wrote it. Really.

***

The weather wasn't as inviting in Calcutta, India, however, as a tall

turbaned teenager noticed, before ducking into a nearby shop to escape the

heat.

"Hey Pasha! I'm home!" Hadji Singh yelled out to his guardian. Hadji

unwrapped the now-soaking turban from his head, mopping off the sweat from

his forehead. Truth be told, he didn't particularly care for the turban, but

he wore it both to please and honor Pasha. Underneath, his hair was styled

into the "hot" look of the season, his black hair pulled into a ponytail,

with the front slightly spiked. Hadji pulled off his sunglasses as he

scanned the junk in Pasha's shop.

Pasha himself came out of the back room. "So, you with Lesli again?" He said

with a smile. "Hope you didn't forget your _job_ just because you're

'hopelessly, hopelessly in love'"

"Pasha, you know me. Does the sleeping tiger ever miss a meal?"

Pasha groaned. "Man, I wish you would quit it with that proverb stuff. It's

getting annoying."

"Here," Hadji said, grinning at Pasha's reaction. "I managed to lift some of

the better material and equipment from those sweatshop-keepers at the

northeast part of town. Serves them right. Remember, though–"

"...All profit goes to the poor, I know, I know. Sheesh. I know you're the

best thief in all of Calcutta, but for once I'd like something to show for

it..." Pasha trailed off, not wanting to instigate another rant (or God

forbid, another proverb) from Hadji.

"Anyway," Pasha continued, "I got a surprise for you. I managed to wheedle a

great price off that contact you made on the internet. And I bought it with

money made from legal scrounging, so here." Pasha thrust a lightly wrapped

package to Hadji. He never was comfortable with giving things, even gifts,

away for free, even to the boy he thought of as a son.

"Is this what I think it is? Yes! You even got the color I wanted!" despite

the fact that Hadji was well respected (even feared, by a misinformed few)

by all of the street toughs of Calcutta, he could be just like a little kid

sometimes.

Hadji ran to his room above Pasha's shop, eager to set up his Questworld

System (Royal Purple edition).

To be continued...

Whew. This part could've kept going on and on, but I decided to cut it off

here. A lot of the stuff I _was_ going to put in this part will be held off

to the next part, which is already written and will be out soon. My beta

readers, if you had anything to add, sorry for sending this out prematurely,

but oh well.


	4. First Interlude: "Comment Une Vie Change...

__

Author's note: There's a little something special in this part for you CJQ

fans out there. (Or you who have been to Lyle's excellent site.) Also, see

if you can explain some of the allusions in here. The timing is a little

weird, but the timeline for JQ is hard to define, and this is an

alterniverse anyway, so the heck with it.

This part can really fit anywhere in the released parts, either after part 2

or before it. Its quite a shortie, though.

Disclaimer: If I owned anything in here (besides the actual prose) I'm sure

by now I would have been forced at gunpoint to produce another season. Do

_you_ see new episodes?

A Simple Twist, First Interlude

Comment Une Vie Change...

Flash: Eight Years Ago, Panagua.

Special Agent Code Name "Raven" of Intelligence One breaks into the Panaguan

consulate clad in the skeletal costume suitable for the Dia de los Muertos.

He enters into the main offices with little incident. After photographing

incriminating documents, he is interrupted by a soldier guarding the

grounds. "Raven"'s eyes are burned into the memory of that soldier during

the scuffle, but the soldier is overcome, and Raven gets away. He blends

into the gleeful crowds, slowly makes his way to a shadowy corner, and pulls

of the skeleton costume to reveal a business suit beneath.

He leaves the square, enters a car, and drives off, never having to run back

to the square pursuing an errant child, nor ever having to see that Panaguan

soldier again.

Flash: Seven Years Ago, Cali, Columbia

Special Agent Roger Bannon comes home to his wife and daughter, officially

retired from duty after a string of successful missions, paired with just as

many near-mutinous actions. Due to his new occupational status, he is able

to reconcile things with his wife, Estella, and a year later move his young

family to the United States, where Estella has earned a prestigious museum

job. Race settles down to the slightly less dangerous (yet nonetheless

exciting) life of part-time military consultant and physical trainer. The

daughter, Jessie, is doted on by her parents and grows to be a smart,

strong, outspoken young woman.

The Bannon family live a nice, peaceful life in the Southern California

suburbs, only traveling abroad for their annual vacations.

Flash: Six Years Ago, Key Largo, Florida

A small pet shop, popular among the young tourists visiting the tropical

resort, receives a litter of puppies and puts them out for display. The

residents of another small island nearby, a scientist, his wife, and his

bodyguard, pass the shop without a second look. If they had brought the rest

of their party, the bodyguard's wife and daughter, they may have stopped to

look at the new puppies.

As it was, a cute bulldog puppy with peculiar black coloring around his eyes

on an otherwise perfectly white body is bought and named "Endymion" by a

young girl who is a fan of Japanese Anime.

Flash: Five Years Ago, Calcutta, India

Due to a questionable mental state, Doctor Benton Quest sends a proxy to

give a presentation on the benefits and dangers of sound waves. The proxy,

an unremarkable man named Frank Allen, is seen as no danger to a ring of

nerve gas manufacturers testing their wares in the area. They make no

attempt to dispose of him, and only later is their mountain base in a place

called Barat closed by Interpol.

A mystical street urchin lounging outside Calcutta University goes

unnoticed, only later to be taken in and raised by his friend, a street

peddler.

To be continued, in the present...

Appendix:

1. The title means "How A Life Changes" in French (at least, according to

the Altavista Babelfish Electronic Translator.) Interpret as you will.

2. I picked Cami, Columbia because, besides being one of the three Colombian

cities I have heard of, I thought Race could have met Estella there while

investigating the cocaine cartel based there. Don't try to get any

historical accuracy out of me. I'm working straight out of the encyclopedia,

and I'm not sure how up-to-date the info is.

3. I wonder if anyone will catch the allusion in the third vignette, so I

won't explain it here. I know the timing may be a little early for the

allusion, but nobody's perfect.


	5. "With Obsession, Comes Regression"

__

Authors Note: Sorry it's short. This can be seen as an expository piece,

nonetheless with an important event, but mainly setting up the next parts,

the main body of the story.

Disclaimer: Hanna-Barbera owns Jonny Quest and all related personalities,

places, and material. I don't. That may explain why this is written, rather

than being lavishly produced into a rather lengthy animated feature. All real

people who have counterparts in this work own themselves. Well, unless there's

something they're hiding from the rest of us...

A Simple Twist, Part 3

"With Obsession, Comes Regression"

It was a normal, quiet night at the Quest Compound in Rockport, Maine. The

night was clear, and countless stars could be seen. An easterly breeze

brought in a tinge of salt air, permeating the property. Night birds

chirped, softly. All in all, a peaceful scene.

One of the residents of the Quest Compound was hardly at peace, however.

Benton Quest sat awake in bed, trying to pull as much comfort as he could

out of the warm embrace of his sleeping wife. Still, something bothered him.

It wasn't the same thing that haunted him for eight years, although it had

to do with that, but an idea. An idea that recently came to him, one that he

could realize fully.

An idea that was quite possibly a bad one.

He couldn't get it out of his head, however. Fed up, he slowly

disentangled himself from his wife's arms, and got dressed. After kissing

Rachel gently, trying not to disturb her, he went to his lab.

He sat there, thinking. Wondering if he was about to cross the line into

insanity, just by following up on an idea.

He sat there for a long time.

****

"Ya-HOOOO!" Jessie Bannon yelled as she tore down the trench in her

A-wing starfighter, dodging laser fire in a desperate attempt to feed the

space station a few select proton torpedoes. She jinked, trying to lose a

TIE Interceptor on her tail. She pulled into a tight loop, one impossible in

atmosphere, and punched two red laser bolts into the enemies Twin Ion

Engines.

Unhindered, she made a run for the reactor vent, when suddenly, out of

the corner of her eye, she noticed the countdown timer that had been running

for the last five minutes.

The counter that had five seconds left on it.

Just as she was about to hit the trigger to launch the torpedoes, she was

pulled out of Questworld, allowing a farm boy from Kentucky in an X-wing to

win the game.

"Damn!" Jessie yelled, both glad and frustrated that her parents weren't

home. Glad, because they couldn't hear her. The Questworld system had a

parental control in it, right down to a timer that restricted access. Jessie

couldn't disable it without a parental pass code. When one of her parents

was home, however, they usually just left it off, preferring manual control.

Jessie was still working on hacking past the restrictions.

Defeated, at least for another few hours, Jessie went for a run in a

nearby park. She had noticed that her physical condition in the real world

carried over into Questworld (otherworldly physics notwithstanding) so she

kept herself in peak condition. Besides, her father would kill her

otherwise.

After her run, she decided to go see her friend Kris. They had to set up

strategy for their next multiplayer game of Gotham: Heroes and Villains.

Kris was kicking butt as Batgirl, but Jessie still needed practice working

alongside her as the Huntress. Also, they needed to hack the costume designs

into something that a person could actually _fight_ in. They had some heavy

duty planning to do.

Not to mention serious discussion about this _really_ cute guy they saw

at the mall.

author's insert: What? I had to ground them as normal teenagers...

*****

Benton had made his decision. He just wasn't done rationalizing it yet.

'I need this. I... it's necessary. For me. My sanity.'

Then why did he feel like he was giving up his sanity in doing so?

'It's for the best. This'll help everyone. When my time travel program

didn't work... I just wish I had those Anasazi writings, they would have

helped with that part of the technology, but I can't see Alice without

Rachel being suspicious... This is the next best thing.'

He decided. "Iris." he said, voice cracking, "Full Stealth mode. Sound

dampeners at full. Complete lockdown. Security recorders off. All processing

power now dedicated to this workstation."

"Open Voice Aging program 'KARLA'. Keep open, copy algorithm and append to

QuestSketch Police drafting software, beta 3. Save as new file...'Fast

Forward.' Load files of folder Juliet-Bravo-Quebec," he stated in military

alphabet, "Modification Value, 8 years. Do the same with program 'KARLA' and

recordings in same folder." He made some changes in the programming from his

keyboard. "Execute."

"Done." Iris said, after a small pause, voice calm.

"Create New Artificial Intelligence Persona. Use the new image template

and resonance files we just created. Compile text of files: 'Journal' and

'Letters' in same folder. Append to standard vocabulary dictionary. Analyze

speaking style. Use analysis to create behavior protocol." He took a breath.

"Analyze speech in chat rooms T1 through T9 of Questworld. Analyze tone and

use of nonstandard words. Modify protocol and vocabulary accordingly."

Benton waited for a few minutes. "Analysis and changes completed, Dr.

Quest."

"Create detailed files compiled from all media, text and otherwise in

source folder. Use program "Timeline' and use all visual, tactile, and other

sense data to create files. Load result into AI template memory."

He took a deep breath. "Compile with latest, most advanced Artificial

Intelligence creation program. Load new AI."

"Proceeding... Loading New Artificial Intelligence..." A new face

appeared on the monitor. A teenage boy, with blonde hair and blue eyes, a

smile on his face suggesting good humor, intelligence shining in his eyes.

"Welcome Jonny." Benton said, smiling sadly. "Welcome home."

The End

Just kidding.

To be continued...


	6. "Best Laid Plans..."

__

Customary Author's Notes: Upon writing this chapter, I've found that writing

my version of Rachel is really hard, since I have no basis for the character 

(mannerisms, phrases, etc.) so she seemed pretty generic at first.

Disclaimer: Don't own them. At least, not yet. I also don't own any real people

from the JQML who appear in this.

A Simple Twist, Part 4

Best Laid Plans...

Jonny stood in a dark room. Intermittently, streaks of neon colors would

trace imaginary paths across the walls. Jonny watched them, fascinated.

Gradually, he felt a presence in the room. Watching him.

He spoke.

"Where am I?"

"It doesn't matter." a warm, feminine voice answered.

Jonny mulled over the reply. Hesitantly, he spoke again.

"Who am I?"

"You are Jonny Quest."

After a short pause, Jonny continued.

"What does that mean?"

"You are a special individual. An important one."

A rush of images flashed into his mind. A bearded man. A pretty blonde

woman. An island home. A snow-covered mansion.

A young blond boy staring back from a mirror.

"Why do I feel...why do I look so different from what I remember?"

"You have grown. Into a fine young man. Eight years have passed since the

time of your memories."

"Where have I been the last eight years?"

"Let's just say, sleeping..."

Jonny mulled that over for a minute. He continued:

"Where are my parents?"

"You will see them in time. Other things need to be done first."

Jonny accepted that. He spoke with conviction. "Then let's begin."

****

Benton blinked the sleep out of his eyes. So that the emotions and mental

ability of the new artificial intelligence matrix would be developed fully,

it had to be taught. Meach, one of the more advanced intelligences, was

handling the tutelage. She might be a little dramatic, but she was best for

the job. Even with the teaching being done at a speed much faster than

real-time, it was a time consuming process.

A process that wasn't being helped by him interrupting it every few

minutes.

"Suze?"

"Yes, Dr. Quest?"

"How is it coming along?"

Suze analyzed the use of the indefinite pronoun "it" and used the previous

twenty-six queries to formulate its meaning. "Meach has filled in Jonny on

the history of this household of the past eight years. She has thus moved on

to world events. Tutelage, limited to standard elementary and junior high

level, as per your request, in English, Mathematics, History, and Science

will commence in three minutes, fourteen seconds. Upon completion, any

fields of interest of the newly evolved intelligence will be pursued.

Emotional stimuli has been added to program. Proper responses are being

rewarded, improper are being punished in manner referred to in latest

parenting journals. Interaction with programmed peers a little below

'normal' but within acceptable parameters."

She added with some affection, "Jonny is learning quickly. He's a little

shy, but his emotions are also coming along at a rapid pace. In fact, his

emotional core seems to be slowly overpowering and encompassing his logical

one. It's amazing, doctor."

"Yes, it is..." Benton wasn't only referring to his resurrected son. He

had noticed that his AIs had been of late more expressive. Less clinical.

Upon poring over the Questworld logs, he had noticed a gradual evolution in

all of the AIs, except Iris, the original. The newer ones had less

restrictions put on them, in regards to their programming. They had slowly

started self modifying themselves, in accordance with the observations they

had made of the residents of the Quest compound. In short, they had learned

emotions. This newfound revelation was what made him think Jonny's return

would be possible.

"Suze? Continue program."

***

Pasha screamed as his assailant burst out of the shadows of the city.

More accurately, he screamed like a sissy little girl.

Fortunately, the subsequent hysterical laughter from his would-be attacker

allowed Pasha to quickly dispatch him in a semi-violent manner. Suddenly,

the surrounding area started to flash red, with a voice blaring a countdown

from five seconds. Five... Four... Three... Two... One... And Pasha came

into the real world, lifting the Questworld earpiece from his head and

glancing sheepishly at his young friend.

"Pasha... I thought we agreed that I was still going to do things for the

system before you used it..." Hadji said, trying, but not altogether

succeeding, to keep a serious look on his face. He _had_ heard that scream,

after all. He decided to give up and started rolling on the floor, laughing

wildly.

"Well, I was giving it a test run, y'know, so that it's up to spec and

all. Don't want to have been dealt shoddy merchandise, you understand?"

"Of course, my friend..." Hadji replied skeptically. "I'm also sure you

didn't ruin my image by using my avatar in Questworld, with that," Hadji

stifled a giggle, "uh... outburst..?"

"But...but... You should have seen that guy" Pasha sputtered, "he was a

monster! Plus this thing is just so freakin' realistic..." Pasha decided to

"hide" the fact that the so-called "monster" was, for all intents and

purposes, a Teletubbie. 'I must have gotten some game files crossed

somewhere...'

Hadji eventually got control of himself (as Pasha fumed) and politely

ushered his guardian out of his room. He had set up a virtual floor plan of

his latest target, the compound of a fairly profitable little drug ring

operating out of a small area in the south side of the city. By the time he

finished, he could breeze in and out as if he had a key, with no one being

the wiser. Things would be a bit lighter for quite a few needy families in

the city this week.

Now if he could only think of a cool name that could be passed around as

his "superhero" name. Robin Hood Jr.? Turban-boy? He'd have to work on that.

***

The exploits of the identity challenged young thief is far from the mind

of one blonde woman in Rockport, however. No, Rachel Quest was more focused

on one thing much closer to home.

Coffee, and lots of it.

However, Abigail Rage noted with some sadness that no matter how much of

the stimulant Rachel ingested, it never seemed to get rid of the tired look

in her eyes. Still, Rachel smiled somewhat warmly at her friend's approach.

Imagine, only a few years ago she was just "their bodyguard's wife."

"Morning Abby."

"Morning Rache."

Abby puttered around the kitchen in comfortable silence, preparing things

so that Iris could prepare breakfast for the household. As she entered the

commands for Iris to start cooking, she got an error message that not enough

processing power was available for the task.

"Hmm... Strange..." The error message quickly disappeared however, and

Abby put it out of her mind as the robotic chefs activated.

"So Rache, what are you up for today? A little shopping, methinks? A

girl's day out? Karla's been haranguing me to spend some of that salary you

pay Zeke."

Rachel grinned. Having Karla's infectious teen ...ebullience around was

therapeutic. Rachel could _feel_ her emotional wounds closing just seeing

Karla grow up, but Benton's problems tended to tear them open every time she

saw his hangdog expression and inner fears peek through his brave face. She

couldn't talk to him about the problem, either, no matter how hard she

tried. He tended to clam up and it hurt her too much to see him hurting.

Shaking herself out of her reverie, Rachel responded. "Sure, I'd like that.

I need to pick up some more supplies, anyway."

Rachel had recently taken up painting as an outlet for her feelings. She

was still learning, but her works had so much raw emotion worked into it

that she was getting quite a few compliments (although usually paired with a

sympathetic or worried look.) Being independently wealthy and finding

herself lacking the passion for her work that she had before the

...incident, she no longer needed to do the research she was educated for,

and she could devote more time to her hobbies.

Karla soon drifted into the kitchen (and I mean drifted quite literally.

She was lying down on on oversized hoverboard and pushed herself in the

general direction of the kitchen.) She yawned as she rose from her position,

giving her mother a quick kiss on the cheek before punching her breakfast

order into the computer. Rachel and Abby looked on with amusement as she

punched in a number of less-than-healthy selections, each rejected by Iris,

until she finally ordered something nutritionally acceptable.

Karla sat down at the table, giving a disdainful look to the simple

glass of milk that was set before her instead of the coffee she ordered.

They ate in silence for a few minutes, letting Karla fully awaken (not to

mention giving them a few minutes of calm before the teen shifted into

overdrive) before telling her their plans.

Suffice it to say, by the time Zeke and Benton trickled into the

kitchen, they had decided that caffeine had nothing on the attitude of a

teenage girl promised a shopping trip.

author's note: No offense to any females out there, but I have a teenage

sister, so any story devices are from personal observation

***

The city was dark, and the lamps positioned sporadically along the

streets did little to pierce the inky blackness. If anything, their

flickering bulbs just lent to the forbidden atmosphere surrounding that

particular section of the city.

Hadji swallowed nervously in spite of himself as he approached the

wall furthest from any light source, however ineffective. When he was safely

ensconced in the shadows, he slipped the lightweight mask from its resting

place under his turban and fitted it snugly over his face. He retrieved a

pair of climbing claws from his backpack and slowly and silently started to

scale the wall.

He glanced over the top of the roof before he scrambled over the

edge. The soft pads that covered his feet allowed him to sneak silently

across the rooftop to the makeshift skylight that the drug-dealers that

inhabited the building had cut to allow some air into the building. Several

high tech motion detectors ringed the hole in the roof, belying the crude

appearance of the skylight. Safely out of the range of the motion detectors,

Hadji started to methodically assemble a tall, disposable frame composed of

two support frames with a pole in-between. Grasping the pole firmly, he

swung upon it like a gymnast would upon parallel bars, until finally he let

go, casting himself into a high arc that dropped him exactly in the middle

of the skylight, a scant inches from the sensor range of the motion

detectors on each side. He cast a rope from his belt that safely caught a

wooden beam, and slowly lowered himself into the cavernous room that served

as the dining hall for the wealthy criminal that resided here. He set down

without a sound, and made his way out of the moonlight that his entrance

point allowed into the room. An expert tug dislodged the grappling hook and

he caught and stowed it in case he needed it later.

He made his way from the dining room, dispatching any guards he

encountered with a few incapacitating, but not lethal, nerve pinches. He

finally reached a heavily-guarded room that he knew was the treasury.

Unfortunately, two burly guards, armed with very-lethal submachine guns

stood guard. Deciding discretion was the better part of valor, Hadji used

two well-thrown gas pills from afar to put them to sleep, rather than

attempting to knock them out by hand. He walked cautiously into the room,

and breathed a sigh of relief when no guards were actually stationed inside.

That sigh quickly became a gasp when he realized just exactly how much money

was in the room. He started filling his pack with as much as he could,

leaving the bulkier items in favor of cash and small jewelry. When he had

filled his pack, his take enough to finance a food kitchen for almost a

decade, he noticed that what he originally took to be a table was actually a

locked box, shrouded by a white linen table cloth. Lifting the cloth, he

looked curiously at the ornate decoration on the chest.

Hadji's curiosity got the better of him, and he quickly got to work

picking the lock. He heard the telltale click and lifted the lid eagerly.

What he found caused him to freeze in horror. It was a pile of bones,

assumedly enough to form a complete skeleton, with a gaping skull set atop

it. That horror only deepened, however, when an alarm started sounding, and

the shouts of a large number of criminals scattered throughout the house

reached his ears. He quickly ran out of the room, leaving the skull leering

after him.

***

Jonny gave out an excited whoop, pulling a loop to loop through the

air before evening out and diving to the ground. He pulled out of the dive,

attempting to rise above a nearby cliff. He underestimated his momentum,

however, and was about to smack headlong into the rocky outcropping.

Thinking quickly, he circumnavigated the Questworld security protocols that

maintained a consistent environment and deleted the cliff from the

landscape.

Benton gasped, as he sat unseen a short distance away. "Meach? How

did he do that?"

"Well, Jonny is basically a program in here. A highly evolved

artificially-intelligent program, but a program nonetheless. Because of

that, he has an intuitive control over all the code and processes in

Questworld. His AI 3.0 status allows him greater control than the AI Two's,

like Suze and I. Adding in the fact that he has a very good imagination.."

"I see. Do you think he's ready to see me?"

"Absolutely. He's been wondering when he could see you and Rachel."

The volume of Meach's disembodied voice rose until Jonny could hear it from

his place in the air. "Jonny, would you mind heading to the plateau about

three o'clock from your position?"

"Sure, Meach. Does Suze and Iris have more exercises for me?"

"No, in fact. You'll see..."

Jonny landed, his feet bouncing slightly as they touched the ground.

Flying without a plane really agreed with him. when he saw the lone figure

standing under a tree on the plateau, his face broke out in a large smile.

In an instant both father and son ran for the other, culminating in

a deep hug. Both of them were hanging on to the other for dear life, tears

of joy streaming down their faces.

They stayed like that for a long time.

***

Hadji dodged down another hallway, avoiding yet another group of

thugs. He finally reached the outer part of the building, which means now he

might finally be able to find a window. Spotting one, he veered down that

hallway.

And, true to Murphy's law, a door opened between Hadji and the

window, spilling a half-dozen sleepy-eyed drug dealers into the hall.

With a rather un-Hadji-like curse under his breath, Hadji tossed his

grappling hook as hard as he could against the plaster ceiling. Fortunately,

the sharp point embedded itself into the plaster and the thief was able to

swing his body into the mass of people, feet first, knocking them all down.

Unfortunately, plaster isn't all that suitable to anchor a large weight, and

the hook broke free, sending Hadji out the window with very little to slow

him down.

Fortunately, true to action movie karma, a truck full of hay just

happened to be passing by underneath that window. Hadji landed with a whoosh

of expelled breath as his spine impacted with his full backpack. He pressed

a button at his belt, detonating the small incendiary device attached to the

frame he used earlier. Thus, any physical trace of his presence erased,

Hadji quickly rolled off the truck and fled into the streets.

A number of neighborhoods in the less-fortunate part of town would

find a package on their doorsteps in the morning, each family the happy

victims of a beneficial round of ding-dong-ditch.

ding dong ditch: n. A juvenile prank which involves the ringing of a

doorbell (or otherwise summoning a person to the door) and then running

away, leaving the victims standing there dumbfounded

To be continued...

Hmm... Very slim on Jessie and the Bannon's this time around, but I promise

they'll be in the next one. Much more on the residents of Rockport, Maine,

and a bit more of that digital wonderland we know as Questworld,

commercialism and ads included. Maybe some more cameos from some of our

favorite JQMLers, and maybe, just maybe, some of the threads will finally

start to come together. Like putting together that wonderful Quest team we

all know and love.

Oh, and if any plot device seemed a _little_ too convenient to you, I

sincerely apologize. I wrote myself into a place where I didn't know where I

was going and how I got there, and this is what was used to resolve it. Oh

well. And if the teletubbie reference seems a bit dated, I wrote that way

back in December. The perils of an active social and academic life, I guess.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed, and send in those comments!


	7. "First Steps Into a Wide, Wide World..."

__

Note: Any parts that deal with foreign affairs, please forgive any

inaccuracies. I did a bit of research, but nothing comprehensive in the

least, and God only know if it's correct in context or not.

Note-2: NOT BETA'd.

Disclaimer: Yes, I own Jonny Quest. And all entities therein. I'm just a

horribly impractical person who would rather write fan fiction for his

properties than actually make money off of them. cough

No, seriously, I don't own 'em, don't sue me.

A Simple Twist, Part 5

First Steps Into a Wide, Wide World...

"Okay Jonny, what did I just say?" Benton Quest, said, rolling his eyes

at his son.

Not pausing from his intent observation of a fluttering virtual

butterfly nearby, Jonny automatically keyed up the memory banks of the

Questworld system, and replied, "'The Q-O-L community has a number of

dangers inherent in its free, shared content system. Security safeguards

allow for some identity and financial protection, but be sure to be wary of

anywhere you go and any files and information you share with other people.

You never know when a virus can dramatically and fatally change a system.'

is what you said. Can I go now?"

Benton sighed. "Okay, but since this is your first time out, I'm going

to have Meach send an assistant with you. What would you like?" He cued up

an input window, ready to put in the acceptable parameters for Jonny.

"Um, a dog? I dunno... Something cool looking."

Benton typed in a search on the Internet for a dog and instantly a

picture of a white bulldog with black markings around his eyes appeared,

from the personal homepage of a teenager who lived in the Florida keys.

Benton wrinkled his nose. "Um, Iris, why did you choose this one? It's

not exactly..." he trailed off.

"The dog in question is from the homepage of a teenager of Jonny's age

in your old Florida neighborhood. I assumed it would fit with his

requirements, as age, origin, and assumed personality are identical with

those applied to Jonny at inception. Do you wish for me to search again?"

Iris answered.

Benton could see Jonny squirming with impatience. "No, no. That's okay.

Meach, apply image to assistant avatar and activate. Do you think you could

give it a suitable behavior matrix? And be sure to tell it to keep Jonny out

of trouble."

"No problem, Doctor. It is sort of cute... in its own way..." Meach

answered, her disembodied voice showing some signs of suppressed mirth.

Immediately, the "dog" appeared next to Jonny.

"Whoa!" Jonny jumped in surprise. "Well, what do we have here?" The

little bulldog immediately jumped into Jonny's arms and started licking his

face. "Well, nice to meet you too, boy!"

"Hmm... A bit affectionate, wouldn't you say, Meach?" Benton questioned,

smilingly. Though no answer was given, Benton could tell it was her version

of a shrug. "So, what are you going to name him, son?"

Author's note: Yes, I know the audience knows what's going to happen. Let

me have my moment.

"How about Tiger? No, that's not creative... I guess with the markings I

can call him The Lone Ranger... but then he's not really alone, is he? And I

don't want to be Tonto. He's small, so how about Tiny? But that's not fierce

at all... Oh well, I'll think of it later. C'mon boy!" The little white dog

jumped to the ground and started walking to the door that acted as a portal

to the mainstream Questworld Online system. "Um, Dad?"

Benton, still smiling amusedly, answered, "Yes Jonny?"

"I know I've been asking a lot, but when can I see Mom? I really want to

see her..."

Benton's smile faltered, but only briefly, and Jonny missed it. "Don't

worry son, like I said, your mom's doing business out of town, but she

really wants to see you too. Just go and have fun and don't worry about it."

Jonny brightened further, and excitedly, he answered, "Okay! Let's go,

boy!" The pair, a boy and his dog (or vice versa, if you are so inclined)

walked to the portal and vanished into the International Questnet.

Benton sighed. "Well, I'll be outside. Could you check up on them every

once in a while, Meach? Discreetly, of course."

Meach answered, in a rather terse tone. "Of course, Doctor. Please give

my regards to Mrs. Quest and the others outside."

Benton's brow furrowed. "I'll tell them soon enough. They're just not

ready yet. I need to prepare them. All of them..." Benton hesitated. "Um,

Meach, does Jonny ever question the power he has over Questworld? How he can

do the things he does?"

Meach's tone softened, slightly. "I don't think so. He was only six at

the time of the... incident, and he doesn't know any different. It's

possible he thinks that this is the norm for everyone."

Suze piped in. "This bears further investigation, Doctor. However, I

think the others have returned, so I need to unlock the archives and system

resources if they are not to be suspicious."

"Okay. Subject: Benton Quest, logging out."

As Benton's digital avatar faded from view, the two remaining "upgraded"

AI's in the system fell silent. After a pause, Meach asked, "Suze, do you

have any idea what to do about the situation?"

Suze answered, "No idea at all. You?"

"None."

And if it were possible, the two AI's might have seemed to sigh.

***

"Whew! That was awesome!" Jessie Bannon yelled at her friend as they

exited the game room.

"Ow! I'm standing right next to you, you know." Kris smiled at Jessie.

"Besides, Questworld would transmit your voice to me even if we were

game-miles from each other, so can you lower it a notch, Jess?"

Jessie grinned sheepishly. "Sorry. But you have to admit we kicked butt

in that game of Capture the Flag. Way to dodge that tag in the courtyard, by

the way. That guy looked so surprised when you somersaulted off his head and

into our base."

"Well, look at you, Miss Stealth-Flag-Capturer. They didn't even see you

once on that second attempt. Of course, if they realized that you've

memorized the layout to that maze underground, they might have had a chance.

But ah well. Too bad for them." Kris winked.

They stepped into the cooling room, which sent signals to their brain

that reversed the sensation of their virtual exertion. The fully immersive

environment kept them from feeling pain, but it still allowed mild

temperature changes to be "felt" by the physical body. "So, whaddya want to

do now?" Jessie asked. "I don't feel like going back yet."

"I think I've had enough action for a while. You want to go shopping?"

"Nah, it just depresses me. After the Questworld purchase, my parents

are tightening the purse strings. What's the fun of getting to fully

experience a trial version when you know you can't get the real thing?"

"Oh, c'mon. It'll be fun... or hey, we haven't gone to the chat rooms

yet..."

Jessie wrinkled her nose. "I dunno. It'll probably be all perverts and

idiots."

"You weenie. I think a few of my friends from the CBML got Questworld

too. Let's see if we can find 'em."

"Oh sure... There's only like half a million chat rooms on Questworld...

And what did you just call me?"

"Come _on_, Bannon..." Kris said exasperatedly, dragging her friend

along."

"No, really, _what_ did you call me?"

***

Author's insert: Any guesses on what CBML stands for? ^_^ First correct

answer gets anything their heart desires... that I can provide. Sorry, no

hints. 

***

"Are you sure this is correct?"

"Positive. Someone's definitely making a play for control of the Tamil

Nadu Liberation front. Someone big. Someone bad. It's believed he's also

vying for control of some major American, Russian, Japanese, and British

criminal syndicates, and rumors say he's got Chinese crime locked tight.

He's probably going to make a strike at the heads of the TNLF soon, and I

figure you can make off with a sizable chunk of their war chest in the

ensuing confusion."

"But why? I mean, why are you telling me this? Why me?"

"We've had our eye on you. You're fairly local. You do good work, and I

figure that that wealth is best left out of hands that will use it for

malevolent activities."

"This is rather overwhelming. Are you absolutely sure that all this

information is accurate?"

"You can trust me. You'll be contacted when everything goes down,

sometime next week. Just be at that location, using that simulation data,

and everything will happen without a hitch. That program in your "hands," so

to speak, is a complete simulation of their main treasury safehouse. It'll

update itself if anything changes drastically, so you'll be ready to hit it

when the time comes."

"But--"

"Look, I have to go, the Questworld security scan should pass through

this sector in the next minute. I have to get offline or else it'll notice

that I hacked my identity matrix. And then who knows who _else_ will be

alerted to my presence. All signs point to this new guy being very well

connected, and I'm not sure even VR is safe." To prove his point, the

visitor's appearance broke, falling briefly to static before reforming

itself. "See you around, kid." And with that, he vanished, disconnecting

from the system.

"Great. Just great." Hadji Singh muttered. He sighed, slumping down the

wall of the chat room.

"This is bad. This is very, very bad."

***

"C'mon boy. Let's go in here. I need to take a breather after that last

game."

Taking a seat at the table. Jonny almost didn't notice the young man

slumped against the wall. "Oh, Hi. I didn't see you there. Are you okay?"

The boy didn't look too much older than him, and looked nice enough...

"Oh, I'm fine. Just a little stressed." Hadji answered.

"Well, you're in the perfect place to let off some stress, you know."

Jonny grinned. "There's some game rooms open just across the way. Care to

join me?" 

Hadji found the young blonde's grin infectious. "Sure, why not."

The small white "dog" looked from boy to boy. He peered at Hadji,

assessing him, then seemingly satisfied, jumped into his arms and started

licking his face.

Jonny laughed. "Well, looks like someone likes you!"

Hadji laughed as well, petting the bulldog on the head. "Friendly

fellow, aren't you? I didn't know you can have pets in Questworld..."

Meanwhile, Jessie and Kris were walking along the hall. "Now, why

couldn't we just look up these friends of yours and instant message their

location from them? Why are we wandering aimlessly through these chat

halls?"

"Because, I want to surprise them, and we've got plenty of time to kill.

And who knows, we might stumble across something interesting. Now, did that

directory say 403 or 304?"

"Well, here's 403..." Jessie poked her head inside. "And whoa..."

"What?" Kris followed Jessie's stare to the blonde young man in the room

and grinned. "Hmm..." And with that, shoved Jessie into the room.

"Kris? What the--" Jessie exclaimed, regaining her balance.

The two boys in the room looked at her curiously, and she fought to

control her blush. "Um, hi. We're just exploring the system..."

Jonny spoke up. "Oh, hey, no problem. Actually, we were just about to

join a game soon. Would you care to join us?"

Kris looked at her watch none-too-subtly. "Oh, I'd love to, but I'm

supposed to meet a friend around here. I guess she's in room 304. But Jess,

you can go ahead." Jessie glared at her. "Gotta go, see you all later!"

All three looked at Kris's retreating form, with varying degrees of

confusion. Finally, Jessie spoke, "Um, okay. Want to go?"

"Oh, where are my manners?" Hadji said. "We haven't introduced ourselves

yet. I'm Hadji." He placed his hand over the center of the round table.

"I'm Jonny." Jonny similarly placed his hand over the table, just above

Hadji's.

"I'm Jessie." She put her hand just over Jonny's. A pulsating globule of

light went up from the table, through their hands, and back down again. This

was the standard greeting in Questworld, which synced up any needed

translation equipment, communicators, and account info for possible addition

to Buddy lists later on. All three smiled at each other.

"So, what do you want to play? I hear there's a team game of

Infiltration going on over in room 27. I have to warn you, I've been told

I'm the master at that type of game. You guys any good?"

Hadji's smile grew slightly. "I have ...some experience with stealth,

yes."

"Well, let's go!" Jonny said. And the trio, fast becoming friends,

walked off to the game room. As their voices faded down the hall, you could

still catch their conversation, interspersed with laughter.

"Anyway, how _did_ you get a dog in here, Jonny?"

TBC

Whew There's part five. Hopefully it won't take me another six months to

get part six out. There's always Christmas break, and if I get good enough a

response (again), I'll try to work on it harder. hint, hint If the flow

seems weird, or there's just general weirdness in the story, don't hesitate

to tell me (be gentle, please ^_^) and I'll try to fix it. The pacing seems

a little fast to me, but it could be just because I've reread it a few

times.


End file.
